Study: US Is An Oligarchy Not Democracy

From the department of No Duh, a study from Princeton and Northwestern Universities supports the thesis that the United States of America is not a republic in substance but rather an oligarchy where the rich rule and the majority are irrelevant to policy decisions.

Studying policy changes between 1981 and 2002 and comparing the different preferences stated by the majority of Americans and those of the wealthy and powerful, researchers discovered that economic elites were in the driver’s seat.

The central point that emerges from our research is that economic elites and organized groups representing business interests have substantial independent impacts on U.S. government policy, while mass-based interest groups and average citizens have little or no independent influence. Our results provide substantial support for theories of Economic Elite Domination and for theories of Biased Pluralism, but not for theories of Majoritarian Electoral Democracy or Majoritarian Pluralism

The scientific evidence seems to be piling up to affirm what many on the left have been saying for years – that America has become a plutocracy. Now that there is little doubt that we have lost the republic, what should we do next?